The rainbow-coloured bands have rose to popularity with kids and adults alike, and can be used to make a whole variety of different objects

Loom bands are taking the world by storm – and it’s not hard to see why. Rainbow-coloured and cheap, kids and adults can have hours of fun putting together flash designs with these bright pieces of elastic on special weaving boards. And they’ve even turned a profit for one enthusiast, who sold a loom band dress on eBay for £170,000 this week. But as you’ll see from our guide, it’s possible to use them to make everything from bracelets to hot drinks holders. Here are seven exclusive designs for all skill levels that you can try out.

Don’t miss our b-looming marvellous offer! Kids and adults are going crazy for Weave Loom Bands and today we’re giving you the chance to claim a bag of 300 colourful bands, a loom tool and 12 clips – all for the price of postage! Whether you want to make bracelets and rings or maybe something a little more adventurous, these fantastic Weave Loom Bands will be sure to keep your little ones occupied during the summer.

Bug

START

Turn the loom so that the arrow is facing away from you. String the two beads across a band. Lay bands 1–36 according to the layout. Band number 36 will be a topper band and bands 37–48 are horizontal bands, stretched across multiple rows. After you string band 48, push the beads to opposite sides of the band. When you finish laying out the bands there will be one purple band and six black bands. These will be used later.

1. Turn the loom around so the arrow is facing you. Begin at band 36. Insert the hook into the peg to push back the topper band. Hook the band beneath and loop it forward to the peg it originated from.

2. Continue looping the bands in the reverse order that you laid them out. Whenever you come to a horizontal band, insert the hook into the peg to pull it back before hooking the band beneath. The horizontal bands will remain in the same place the entire time.

3. When you get to the last peg, use the hook to insert the purple band through it. Tighten it around the bands on that hook with a slipknot.

4. Before removing, make slipknots over the loops at the bottom right and left corners. Tighten and tie the ends into knots, so they look like feet. Repeat at the bug’s mid-section and the top left and right sides. Remove from the loom.

Hot Drinks Holder

START

Place the loom with the arrows facing away from you and lay the bands as per the diagram. You will have to lay the loom like this three times to complete the pattern.

1. Turn the loom so the arrow is facing down toward you. Place your hook down through the first left-hand peg, hook the bottom band, and loop forward to the peg in front.

2. Put your hook through the second left-hand peg, hook the bottom band, and loop forward to its original peg in front. Continue to loop the left-hand side up to the end on the loom. Each time, make sure you put your hook through the inside of the peg to collect the bands, rather than the outside.

3. Repeat the process with the remaining five rows of pegs.

4. Put your hook through the last peg on the left-hand side, and slide the bands off the peg and on to the wide part of your hook.

5. Repeat this with the five other pegs, from left to right. Once the bands from all six pegs are on the hook, pull the rest off the loom. Put to one side.

6. Turn the loom so the arrows are facing away from you, and re-lay the loom with bands 1–116. Instead of adding topper bands 117–122, you are going to stretch the band ends off your hook to their corresponding coloured peg, from right to left.

7. Repeat steps 1–6, to lengthen your piece, and then repeat steps 1–5 to get it to its complete length.

8. With the loom arrows facing away from you, lay five black bands on the left-hand row. Instead of adding topper bands, starting at the furthest peg, stretch the bands’ ends off your hook, and put a pair on each of the six pegs.

9. Fold drinks holder so six black topper bands match with six pegs. Stretch both loops of them over corresponding pegs.

11. Carry on looping the bottom black bands forward to the end of the chain and finish by using your last black band to create a slipknot through the last peg. Pull off the loom and slide on to your empty cup.

Hot Drinks Holder

Ladder Bracelet

START

Place the loom with arrows facing away from you and lay bands 1–49 as per diagram. You should still have two each of the blue, purple, red, and orange plus one of the yellow and green left. We’ll place them after the first two steps.

1. Turn the loom around so the arrows are pointing down towards you. Starting at the bottom central peg, put your hook in, push back the topper band, and catch the first band beneath it (shown in black). Loop it forward to the peg in front.

2. Continue looping the black bands to the end of the loom, ending on the top central peg.

3. Now we need to lay the rest of the bands. On top of each of the ‘rungs’ of the ladder, stretch an additional band in the same colour as the existing one between the two opposite pegs.

4. Back to the looping, make sure the arrows are still pointing down towards you, put your hook in the bottom central peg, and using the back of it to push back the topper band, catch the bottom-left green band. Loop it to its original peg on the upper left-hand side. Continue looping the bands on the left-hand side, making sure each time that you hook from the inside of the peg.

5. Repeat process for right-hand side row of pegs.

6. Put your hook through the peg you just ended on, and pull the finishing band through and over itself in a slipknot. It is ready to pull off the loom. Attach both ends using the C-clip.

Glasses Sleeve

START

1. Stretch your first band between the first left and right-hand peg, in a figure of 8.

2. Stretch your second coloured band between the same two pegs, and then the third.

3. Put the arm of the glasses up between the three bands, to the left of the cross in the first band.

4. Hook bottom band from outside the left-hand peg and loop over peg. Repeat on right-hand side.

5. Take a band the same colour as the one you just looped, and stretch it down over the arm of your glasses and between the two pegs.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have used 12 bands of each colour, or you’ve reached your desired length. Take the bottom band over again as normal, leaving you with one band on the pegs. Carefully stretch band from the left-hand peg over the top of the arm. Stretch the band from the right-hand peg over the glasses, too.

7. Repeat steps 1–6 for the other arm.

Glasses sleeve

Strawberry

Grade: Easy

You will need: 1 loom, staggered, 19 red, 7 green, 2 yellow

Strawberry chart

START

Place the loom with the arrows facing away from you, and lay the bands as per the diagram. Topper band 26 is wrapped around the peg four times, topper band 28 twice, and topper band 27 just once.

1. Turn the loom so the arrow is facing down toward you. Put your hook in the first central peg. Then push back the topper band, hook the top pair of bands, and loop diagonally to the upper left-hand side.

2. Continue to loop the next three pairs of bands in the row forward, always going inside the topper band to loop them. The last pair will be looped diagonally to the upper central peg.

3. Put your hook back in the first central peg, and repeat steps 1 and 2 for the right-hand side.

4. Put your hook once more in the first central peg, loop the bottom pair of bands forward. Then loop the next three pairs forward too.

5. Put your hook in the peg you just finished on, reach down, catch the bottom green band, and loop it forward.

6. Loop the bottom end of the band up through the middle of itself, pulling it into a slipknot. Pull your sweet little strawberry off the loom.

Strawberry

Dahlia Flower Ring

Grade: Easy

You will need: 1 loom, squared, 14 orange, 8 pink, 1 blue, 1 C-clip

Dalia chart

START

Place the loom with the arrows facing away from you and lay the bands as per the diagram. Wrap band 14 and blue topper twice between the pegs.

1. Turn the loom so the arrow faces down toward you. Put your hook through the peg that is central to the square shape. Push the topper band with the back of your hook, catch the first band, and loop it back to its original peg on the upper left-hand side.

2. Repeat this process for the seven remaining bands, working in an anticlockwise direction. The topper band should now be evenly stretched around the central peg.

3. Put your hook through the centre of the second peg up in the chain and loop this band forward. Repeat with the next band up.

4. Placing your hook through the peg you just ended on, take the second-to-bottom band, and loop it to its original peg on the left-hand side.

5. Repeat this looping three times up the left-hand side to end on the middle top peg of the square.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 on the right-hand side to meet the other bands at the middle top peg of the square.

7. Put your hook back through the middle top peg, catch the bottom band, and loop it forward. Repeat this twice more, until you get to the end peg.

8. Attach the band ends with a C-clip, pull off the loom, and fasten to the other end to complete your ring.

Dahlia ring

Butterfly

START

Place the loom with the arrows facing away from you and lay the bands as shown in the diagram. You’ll have to lay bands 1–25 twice. Topper band 13 is wrapped twice around the peg. Topper band 38 is wrapped four times around the peg.

1. Turn the loom so the arrows are facing down toward you. Put your hook in the fourth peg from the top on the left-hand side. Push back the black topper band, take the first pink band and loop it forward.

2. Put your hook in the peg you just looped to, take the next pink band and loop forwards again. Then take the bottom pink band from the peg you just looped to, and loop diagonally to the upper right-hand side.

3. Go back to the third peg from the top on the left-hand side, take the bottom purple band, and loop diagonally to the upper right-hand side to the peg in the central row.

4. Go to the fourth peg from the top on the left-hand side, push back the topper band, and loop the bottom pink band diagonally to the upper right-hand side.

5. Put your hook in the peg you just finished on, catch the second-to-bottom purple band, and loop forward. Repeat once, being sure to catch only the second-to-bottom purple band.

6. At the peg you just finished on (second from the top in the centre), reach down and hook the bottom pink band diagonally to the upper right-hand side.

7. Go back to the central peg third from the top, and loop the bottom purple band to the right-hand side.

8. At the central peg fourth from the top, hook the bottom band and loop to the upper right-hand side. Putting your hook in the peg you just looped to, take the bottom pink band forward. Repeat once.

9. Now put your hook through the last peg, and pull your first wing off the loom. Attach the band ends on your hook with a C-clip and slide off your hook. Stretch the black topper band on the seventh peg from the top on the left-hand side.

10.Repeat the looping pattern from steps 1–10 with this wing, so you finish with two wings attached to one topper band.

11. Re-lay your loom with bands 1–25, making sure the arrows face the right way! Then repeat steps 1–10 to create your second pair of wings.

12. Make sure the loom arrows are facing back toward you. Now we’re going to attach the wings to the body. Take your first pair, and stretch the black topper band over the fourth peg up from the bottom on the right-hand side. Then stretch the second pair of wings over the second peg up from the bottom on the right-hand side.

13. Put your hook in the first right-hand peg, push back the topper band and loop the bottom pair of bands forwards. Keep looping the next five pairs of bands forward in this way, being careful to hook from inside the topper bands and only loop the pair you want forward.

14. The last looped white bands will be your slipknot. Take the bottom ends of the bands through the centre of the last loop and pull tight.

15. Pull your bands off the loom to see your beautiful butterfly. Finally, tie a little knot in the end of each of the white bands. These are your antennae.